Music, like all art, engages the mind and the heart.
The mission of the Bard College Conservatory of Music is to provide the best possible preparation for a person dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music.
The final performance of the festival, a chamber opera and dance concert by the Bard East/West Ensemble, will take place on October 5 at 3 pm at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Gunther Herbig.
Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include the Blossom Festival, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, with the San Francisco Symphony at Stern Grove Park, and an appearance with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on July 4, 2015 before an audience of over fifteen thousand.
During the 2017-2018 season, Terrence Wilson appeared as guest soloist with the Alabama Symphony and made his debut with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He also made his debut with the Richmond Symphony in performances of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Other highlights of the season included a return appearance with the New Jersey Symphony, and chamber music performances with the Ritz Chamber Players in Jacksonville, Florida.
In the 2018-2019 season, Wilson returns as guest soloist with the Omaha Symphony, gives his debut performance with the Hilton Head Symphony, and performs recitals of the complete sets of Rachmaninoff’s Études Tableaux Op. 33 and Op. 39 in advance of a recording of both sets. He will also appear with the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia.
Also on the horizon for the coming seasons is the commission, premiere performance and recording of a new solo piano work by American composer Michael Daugherty.
Terrence Wilson has received numerous awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist With an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra - written for Wilson in 2007.
Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey.
Missy Mazzoli
Composer in Residence
Missy Mazzoli
Recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (NY Times), “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out NY), and praised for her “apocalyptic imagination” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed by the Kronos Quartet, LA Opera, eighth blackbird, the BBC Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, Scottish Opera and many others. In 2018 she became, along with Jeanine Tesori, the first woman to receive a main stage commission from the Metropolitan Opera, and was nominated for a Grammy award in the category of “Best Classical Composition". From 2018-2021 she was Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and from 2012-2015 was Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia. Her 2018 opera Proving Up, created with longtime collaborator librettist Royce Vavrek and based on a short story by Karen Russell, is a surreal commentary on the American dream. It was commissioned and premiered by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and Miller Theatre, and was deemed “harrowing… a true opera for its time” by the Washington Post. Her 2016 opera Breaking the Waves, commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects, was called “one of the best 21st-century American operas yet” by Opera News. Breaking the Waves received its European premiere at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival; future performances are planned at LA Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and the Adelaide Festival. Her next opera, The Listeners, will premiere in 2022 at the Norwegian National Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and Opera Philadelphia. Missy is also active in the orchestral and chamber music field, recently writing new works for the National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, BBC Philharmonia, and the Bergen Symphony, among others. In 2016, Missy and composer Ellen Reid founded Luna Lab, a mentorship program for young female, non-binary and gender nonconforming composers created in partnership with the Kaufman Music Center. Her works are published by G. Schirmer. missymazzoli.com
Photo by Marylene May
Jing Xia
Guzheng
Jing Xia
Jing Xia is a guzheng performer, intercultural arts promotor, Chinese music scholar and educator. Xia has received numerous awards and accolades, including the prestigious Golden Bell Award; the Master of a Chinese Traditional Musical Instrument designation by the California State Senate; the Master Artist Award by Southwest Folklife Alliance; the 2022 Top 10 Outstanding Chinese American Youth Award; and the 30 Selected Leaders for the Future by the All American Chinese Youth Federation. She was selected to be featured in the 2016 Cultural and Artistic Achievement stamp and postcard series released by China Post.
As a performing artist, Xia has been invited to perform concerts with the “Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra” along with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, China National Traditional Orchestra, Huaxia Chinese Orchestra, Chandler Symphony Orchestra, and Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. She has traveled on concert tours to Switzerland, New Zealand, Spain, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Burma, Bangladesh, and the USA.
Aside from her devotion to the culture of traditional music, she is also enthusiastic about exploring new music, techniques, idioms, sounds, genres, cultures, and other aspects of musical perception. Her intercultural music project, the Duo Chinoiserie, seeks to build new musical bridges between the East and West. The award-winning album CHINOISERIE includes new works written for the Duo by renowned composers. Xia’s performing style of the guzheng is calm and subtle, yet very powerful and emotional.
Xia started her guzheng studies when she was four years old. Since then, she has delved into the world of guzheng music and studies with many famous Chinese guzheng masters. She holds a Master of Musicology and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the China Conservatory of Music. She is a Ph.D. candidate of Applied Intercultural Arts Research with an emphasis in applied ethnomusicology and health promotion science at the University of Arizona. Her research specializations include applied and intercultural approaches to the study of music, culture, and wellness; traditional music as a means to enhance the wellbeing of the Chinese diaspora; and the study of the Qing zheng score Shiliu Ban from “Xiansuo Beikao.” She has published articles in the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), and her research has been selected for presentation at the Association of Chinese Music Research (ACMR) meeting, the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) conference, and the National Organization of Arts in Health conference.
Yi-Wen Jiang
Violin
Yi-Wen Jiang
Violinist Yi-Wen Jiang was born in Beijing to a family with a strong musical background, his father having spent over 35 years as a Concertmaster and his mother as a soprano soloist. Jiang's destiny was revealed at three years old when he listened to Beethoven's violin concerto, instilling in him the desire to become a professional violinist.
Jiang gave his concerto debut in Beijing at 17. He secured the top prize at the inaugural China Youth Violin Competition, enabling him to study with Professor Han Li at the Central Conservatory of Music. Subsequently, he received a full scholarship from McDonnell-Douglas at the St. Louis Conservatory and relocated to the U.S. in 1985 to study with Taras Gabora and Michael Tree. Following his tenure in St. Louis, he enrolled in Rutgers University's graduate program, where he studied for four years with Arnold Steinhardt. Jiang credits Steinhardt with having the most profound influence on his playing, followed
by highly influential master classes with Pinchas Zukerman. In the wake of his prize-winning performance at the Montreal International Competition, he appeared as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony and Montreal Symphony, and was featured at numerous international music festivals by the age of 22.
Jiang's 26-year tenure with the Shanghai Quartet, which began in 1994, encompassed over 3,000 concerts in 37 countries. The ensemble's collaborations with distinguished artists were extensive, including performances with the Tokyo, Juilliard, and Guarneri Quartets, cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell, pianists Roth Laredo, Menahem Pressler, Peter Serkin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yuja Wang, many of whom developed into lasting friendships. The ensemble was a regular performer at many of Europe's and North America's most prestigious music festivals.
As a composer, Jiang has developed a distinctive style, arranging dozens of pieces for violin-piano and string quartet that blend Eastern and Western influences. His arrangement of Chinese folk songs, ChinaSong, is particularly notable, drawing on his childhood experiences during the Cultural Revolution in China. The Shanghai Quartet, joined by Eugenia Zukerman, recorded this collection of 24 pieces, which was released on the Delos International label in 2002. In 2018, Flower City Publisher in Guangzhou published 38 of these arrangements.
Jiang holds a position as a founding faculty member at The Bard College Conservatory of Music.